Black Cinema Connection

Release Date:  12/9/22; Apple TV+
Genre:  Drama/Historical
Rating:  R
Director:  Antoine Fuqua
Studio(s):  Apple TV+, CAA Media Finance, Escape Artists, McFarland Entertainment

Cast:  Will Smith (Peter), Ben Foster (Fassel), Steven Ogg (Sergeant Howard), Charmaine Bingwa (Dodienne), Gilbert Owuor (Gordon), Mustafa Shakir (Andre Cailloux), Grant Harvey (Leeds), Ronnie Gene Blevins (Harrington), Timothy Hutton (Senator John Lyons).

Story:  After being whipped nearly to death, an enslaved man named Peter escapes from a Louisiana plantation, outwitting cold-blooded hunters, as he makes his way North, where he joins the Union Army. The film is based on the true story of Gordon or “Whipped Peter” an escaped American slave who was the subject of photographs documenting extensive keloid scarring on his back as a result of whippings he received while he was a slave. The “scourged back” photo became one of the most widely circulated photos of the abolitionist movement during the American Civil War.  Source:  Wikipedia.

Trailer:

Release Date:  4/7/23
Genre:  Drama/Biography
Rating:   PG-13
Director:  Stephen Williams
Studio(s):  Element Pictures, Searchlight Pictures, Stillking Films

Cast:  Kelvin Harrison, Jr. (Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges), Samara Weaving (Marie-Josephine), Ronke Adekoluejo (Nanon), Lucy Boynton (Marie Antoinette), Marton Csokas (Montalembert), Alex Fitzalan (Philippe), Minnie Driver (La Guimard).

Story:  Based on the incredible true story of composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges. The illegitimate son of an African slave and a French plantation owner, Bologne rises to improbable heights in French society as a celebrated violinist-composer and fencer, complete with an ill-fated love affair and a falling out with Marie Antoinette and her court.  Source:  Searchlightpictures.com.  Photos Source:  IMDB.

Trailer:

Genre:  Drama
Rating:   PG-13
Director:  J.D. Dillard
Studio(s):  Black Label Media, STX Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE), Stage 6 Films, STX Entertainment

Cast:  Jonathan Majors (Jesse Brown), Glen Powell (Tom Hudner), Christina Jackson (Daisy Brown), Joe Jonas (Marty Goode), Thomas Sadoski (Dick Cevoli), Serinda Swan  (Elizabeth Taylor).

Story:  Devotion, an aerial war epic based on the bestselling book of the same name, tells the harrowing true story of two elite US Navy fighter pilots during the Korean War. Their heroic sacrifices would ultimately make them the Navy’s most celebrated wingmen.  Sources:  Official site, devotion.movie.  Photo source:  Sony Pictures.

Release Date:  11/25/22; Paramout+
Genre:  Comedy; Family
Rating:  NR
Director:  Anton Cropper
Studio(s):  Awesomeness Films, Genius Productions (II), NFL Films, Nickelodeon Movies, Nickelodeon Network, The SpringHill Company, Nickelodeon Network, Paramount+.

Cast:  Marsai Martin (Callie Coleman), Kelly Rowland (Keisha Coleman), Omari Hardwick (Bobby Coleman), Rome Flynn (Anderson Fisher), Tony Gonzalez (Coach Lance Evans).

Story:  Everything changes when Callie A. Coleman discovers she can magically control her father’s performance on the football field. When Callie plays as her dad, Bobby Coleman, a running back for the Atlanta Falcons, in the videogame “Madden NFL 23,” Bobby is transformed from a fumbling journeyman to a star running back bound for superstardom alongside his daughter and wife Keisha. With the NFL Playoffs looming and the pressures of Callie’s new commitment to her friends on the robotics team mounting, the two must forge ahead to keep the magic a secret as they juggle the highs and lows of their newfound success, all as they rediscover what it really means to be a family.  Source:  IMDB.  Photo Source:  Just Jared Jr.

Trailer: